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When you think about exports and Corpus Christi, fossil fuels typically come to mind. Since Congress lifted the U.S. ban on crude oil exports in 2015, billions of dollars worth of oil has been shipped out of the port there.

Some in Corpus Christi have an idea to diversify the city’s export portfolio with a resource that’s available in abundance around the coastal city. Officials are investigating the viability of large-scale desalination, with a view toward selling water from the Gulf of Mexico to those who need it.

Joe McComb, the mayor of Corpus Christi, says though he is uncertain when exactly a desalination plan might come to fruition, he is confident that his city has the resources and motivation to begin exporting water in the near future.

“There could be at some point a time in the future, I don’t know whether it’s the next five or ten years or next twenty years, that we could very well be able to pump water and provide water all over the state,” he says.

Whether or not it happens during his time as mayor, McComb says that he wants the city to be prepared for the day when Corpus Christi is able to provide the precious commodity across the state.

“I don’t see it happening in the next probably three to five years, but we are going to be absolutely ready to go, and have the information available for the decision makers at the time when they do need to make it.”